Allentown's 8th Street Bridge won't close for construction

Allentown's Albertus L. Meyers Bridge will remain open to northbound traffic for the duration of construction on the span, state officials said this week.

Last month, representatives with PennDOT, the city and the contractor working on the bridge discussed the possibility of closing the bridge completely in hopes of shaving almost a year off renovations to the span, also known at the Eighth Street Bridge.

Southbound traffic is currently closed on the bridge as it undergoes an $18.5 million rehabilitation.

IEW Construction Inc., the contractor completing the work, agreed to close the bridge to speed up the timeline, but as officials looked into proposed detours for the span, they found they would need at least one temporary traffic signal, said Ron Young, a spokesman for PennDOT.

The process of getting a permit and the equipment necessary for the signal would have cut into the amount of time that would have been shaved off the schedule, Young said. Officials opted to keep the bridge open for northbound traffic, he said.

The original decision to keep one lane of the bridge open was done to accommodate the highest volumes of traffic on the bridge, Young said. Data showed the morning commute of people headed toward downtown Allentown happened within a relatively short time period. The evening commute leaving Allentown was more spread out, he said.

The same was true of traffic headed to the city's new PPL Center arena, Young said. People were headed toward downtown at the same time, but leaving the arena at different times. Northbound traffic remained open as a result.

Officials also kept the bridge open to pedestrians.

Repairs planned for the bridge, built in 1912-13, are extensive. The decking of the entire span is being rebuilt, and the approaches on both sides will be rebuilt as well. New decorative fencing will be installed to prevent suicides, which have been a recurring problem.

On average, 19,950 cars cross the 1,959-foot-span daily when it is open in both directions, according to PennDOT.